In Him Alone

Sunday, February 18, 2018

I heard it again last night – the most deceptive and
misleading song I’ve ever heard sung during a Lenten Mass. Here are some of the
lyrics: “You gotta walk that lonesome valley. You gotta walk it by yourself.”

And the words get worse: “You must go and stand your
trials. You have to stand it by yourself.”

Aaarghh!I wanted
to leap to my feet in the sanctuary and cry out – “NO! NO! NO!Is anyone listening to those words? What does
walking lonesome valleys alone have to do with the Real Presence of Jesus in
the Eucharist on the altar right in front of us? What does standing our trials
by ourselves have to do with the unalterable promise of Christ who tells us – “I
will never leave you. I will never forsake you”?

No wonder so many of my fellow Catholics walk through
life with their jaw dragging on the ground. Do we call Jesus our ‘Emmanuel’
without remembering the name means, “God WITH us?

What do those loathsome lyrics have to do with God’s
promise in the Shepherd Psalm?Remember
the words: “Even thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (OH!
Talk about a lonesome valley!) – “Even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, YOU ARE WITH ME!”

Oh, my fellow Catholic, please don’t let those specious, deceptive
lyrics sink into your spirit. It should be stunning to us that we would sing
such joy-destroying lyrics when the Mass unveils to us the eternallypresent
Christ.

Jesus is ALWAYS with us. Every moment, every nano-second
of our lives. In our cars, in our homes, while we shop, while we sleep, while
we eat – every moment Emmanuel is with us. Always. Even to the end of time.

And there is yet more to His magnificent, wondrous and
glorious promises: We never, never, never stand our trials alone. Oh! Where
does that contemptible idea come from!

God’s unshakeable and unchangeable promise through the
Scriptures and the historic teaching of the Church assures us of His
ever-presence with us. Please! Never accept lying lyrics written by those who
are so sadly ignorant of our God and Savior.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. (John 6:68)

The longer I know God, the more I know I don’t know Him.
That’s a different attitude than I had just a few years ago. Back then I
thought I had nearly all the answers. And why shouldn’t I? I could quote
hundreds of Scripture passages and easily recite the basic doctrines of
evangelical Protestant and Catholic faith. I have baccalaureate and master’s
degrees from Assemblies of God schools and have studied and taught Scripture
for more than forty years.

Yet I am now at the point in my life where I realize the longer I
know God, the more I know I don’t know Him. Sometimes I feel like an
amoeba trying to fathom the mind and purpose of an Einstein – and I am in good
company. It was St. John Chrysostom who said, “God is the incomprehensible, the
invisible, the ungraspable.” St. Augustine added, “If it can be understood, it
is not God.” And St. Thomas Aquinas noted of God, “We cannot grasp what he is,
but only what he is not. Whatever can be understood, or thought of, is
less than God.”

I don’t usually think about how much I don’t know about God, until
someone asks me what I now concede are unanswerable questions, such as: “Why do
bad things happen to good people?” Or, “Why does God permit some people
to do terribly bad things without punishment, and on others His judgment is
swift and overwhelming?”

For example, there’s that gruesome story of rape, murder and
mutilation in the book of Judges, and God doesn’t seem to bother Himself with
event. I wrote about it several months ago, and you can read it here. Whereas, an example of God’s immediate judgment against sin
occurs in the New Testament story of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. You’ll
find it in Acts, chapter 5. They sold some property and brought the proceeds of
the sale to the apostles as a gift to the Lord. Well, actually, they brought some of the
proceeds of the sale. They lied to the apostles, telling them they were giving
all of the sale price.

And God slew them right there on the spot.

So, what’s going on? Why sudden punishment for some and seemingly
nothing for another? It is precisely that question which brought me to the
conclusion I don’t know as much about God as I once thought I did. Perhaps what
Jesus said to some Sadducees is applicable to me.

The Sadducees were the religious humanists of Jesus’ day. They
didn’t believe in angels, the supernatural, or the resurrection. So they
challenged Jesus with a hypothetical case of a man who died without having any
children with his wife. According to the Mosaic Law, the man’s brother was to
marry the widow and raise children to the deceased. The Sadducees continue
their “what-if” to say the deceased had six brothers, each of whom in turn
married the widow and then died without producing offspring to the original
brother. “So in the resurrection,” they asked Jesus, “whose wife will she be,
since all seven had her as a wife?”

I imagine Jesus sadly shook His head as He answered, “Is this not
the reason you are mistaken, because you do not understand the Scripture, or
the power of God?” (Mark 12:24)

Several months ago when I reread that story, the Lord’s words to
the Sadducees captured my attention as if I’d never read that passage before. Jesus
could just as easily have said to me with regard to
all my questions: “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, because you do not
understand the Scripture, or the mercy of God?” Or, the forgiveness of God? Or,
His patience?

It is that concept – my incredibly limited understanding of God
and of His patience, mercy, and forgiveness – that brings me back to the
question about the stories in Judges and in Acts, and many others throughout
Sacred Scripture, and even to today.

It amazes me, for example, how patient God was with Israel during
their 40 years in the desert. Their shoes and clothing didn’t wear out. He fed
them day by day with supernatural ‘manna’ from heaven. The people witnessed
God’s supernatural pillar of fire which led them by day and His supernatural
cloud which settled over them each night. For forty years God’s miraculous
presence and intervention journeyed with them. Every day. For forty years. Yet,
as the prophet Amos writes, they carried along with them the idolatrous gods of
Egypt (Amos 5:25-26). Nevertheless (and here is the amazing
part) God demonstrated His great patience and mercy, and did not
immediately strike them in His wrath.

In the New Testament the apostle Paul tells the Athenians how God
also overlooked the sins of the Gentiles during the times of their ignorance.
And once again, to his readers in Rome Paul wrote of God’s kindness and
patience in having overlooked their sins (Romans 2:4). And I could also cite
Nadab and Abihu, Korah, David, Samson, Lot, Jephthah, Mary Magdelene, Saul of
Tarsus, and dozens of others whose stories demonstrate either the profound
mercy of God – or His immediate judgment against sin.

Is this not the reason we are sometimes so mistaken about God and
about what He will do – or should do – because we do not really understand
the Scriptures, nor the power – nor the mercy -- of God?

For my part, I am very grateful for God’s patience and mercy. My
past is so full of so many horrible things I’ve done to others that I deserve
the same immediate punishment Ananias and Sapphira received. Or Nadab and
Abihu. And so many others. It is only the Lord’s mercies that I did not suffer
immediate judgment.

Why does God do as He does? As He tells us through Isaiah the
prophet, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). And through Moses He
says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed
belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this
law” (Deut. 29:29).

That answer will still not satisfy some who ask the questions, but
now that I know I don’t know very much about God, that answer fully satisfies
me.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

This is an adaptation of the Sunday message I gave to seniors at their
independent living facility. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/2EqpcN6

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day during which lovers give cards,
flowers, candy, and other special gifts to each other as a mark of their
affection.

But this year, February 14 also marks another celebration: Ash Wednesday.
Today is also the first day of Lent, the period in the Christian calendar
during which the faithful ask themselves once again, Who am I? Why am I here?
Why did Jesus die for me? How can I grow in my love and devotion to my Savior?

In churches where Lent is celebrated, congregants receive ashes on
their forehead and hear the words: “You are dust, and to dust you will return.”

Do you bristle at that phrase? It is not unusual for many people
to take umbrage at that statement – “You are dust, and to dust you will return.”

But the declaration itself – as is the reason behind Ash Wednesday
– is purposely designed to upend our pride, to force us to remember the stark
reality that each one of us – despite our popularity, our wealth, our titles,
our family backgrounds – despite everything we have and hold dear to ourselves
– in the end, when we have been laid in the ground, our body will decay to
nothing more than dust and ashes and our popularity and titles and so forth
will be forgotten within a very, very short time.

Indeed, and this is really important, Ash Wednesday serves to
remind us nothing we have accomplished in life will last EXCEPT what we have
done for God. Only that, and nothing else, will come with us into eternity.

Nothing else.

You might remember what King Solomon learned about wealth and
popularity and titles. Here is how he began his autobiography in Ecclesiastes (Chapter
2) “I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them
all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself. . . . I collected for myself silver
and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself
male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines. . . . . Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and
the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity [meaningless] and
striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun . . . .

Read the entire book and you will sense the depth of this man’s
sorrow, his mournful regret as he looked back over his life filled with ashes. Here
is how he concluded his autobiography in chapter 12:

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the
evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in
them” . . . “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!” The
conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments,
because this applies to every person. For God
will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is
good or evil.

If we don’t get the point about the absolute futility of
bigger-better-more, if we dismiss the idea that only what is done for Christ
matters, then the spiritual significance of the convergence this year of Lent
and Valentine’s Day will mean very little.

We looked at Ash Wednesday. Now for Valentine’s Day.

In a depth of love that we can only imagine, God gave to us who
are dust and ashes a priceless Gift – the gift of His Son. Even while we
rebelliously shook our fist in His face, Jesus went to that cross, so you and I
will not be cast from His eternal presence for our rebellions and sins. He gave
His Son so that you and I, the laser-like focus of His love, would spend
eternity with Him.

But Valentine’s Day is best enjoyed if it is a reciprocal
celebration, when lovers give gifts to each
otheras an expression of their love for each other.

And so, as God gave you and me His love, wrapped in a manger on
Christmas morning – and fully unveiled for us on Calvary’s Cross, what gift might
we give to God? Many of you are familiar with Isaac Watts’ hymn:

When I
survey the wondrous crossOn which the Prince of glory died,My richest gain I count but loss,And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it,
Lord, that I should boast,Save in the death of Christ my God!All the vain things that charm me most,I sacrifice them to His blood.

So, what can be our love-gift to Him? Time, talent, treasure? Those
are good places to start. But what about giving to Him also our broken hearts? Our
shattered dreams? Our spiritual, emotional, and even the physical wounds we
still carry? Can we lay them at His feet, and leave them there?

Oh, what wondrous gifts we give Him when we give Him what hurts us
the most. And Oh! How He wants to embrace us and soothe away all that sorrow.

What will you and I give Him today, on this combined celebration
of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday? What will we sacrifice to His love? Those
are important questions we all can consider – should consider – every day, but perhaps
especially on this day, February 14, as Valentine’s
Day and Ash Wednesday kiss each other.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Over
the last several months I’ve been rationalizing away something wrong I’ve been
doing. I’ve even avoided calling it what it really is – a sin. If
I told you what it was, many of you would probably shrug your shoulders as if
it’s too minor to even worry about. But as St. Augustine wisely noted: Do not despise these sins which we call "light": if you take
them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of
light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of
grains makes a heap. Because I have for months so often rationalized
the sin, I committed it again last evening without even a second thought. Until this morning when God got my
attention.I’ve been reading through Hebrews
during my mornings with the Lord, and so I picked up today where I left off
yesterday, Hebrews 12. Someone – a Christian brother – recently asked why I
read the bible so often. I replied, “Because God speaks to me through His book.”This morning is just another example
of God speaking to me through His book. And what He said to me was not comforting.
It was a rebuke. And a warning. I didn’t get past the second verse of
chapter 12 before the Holy Spirit seized my attention: “Let us also lay aside every
encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us . . .” I closed my Bible for a few moments
to reflect on what God was telling me in unmistakable detail. I could no longer rationalize my sin:
Richard, stop what you are doing! His words did not sting, but His
warning was as clear to me as any of His rebukes have ever been.

I repented right there in my chair.

When I again opened the Bible, I read
a few verses later these words – words now of encouragement: But God disciplines us for our good, in order
that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time,
but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and
peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and
weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be
disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to . . . be holy; without
holiness no one will see the Lord.”

So, what is the point in my sharing with you my most recent
struggle with sin – even what some might call minor sin?

First: God loves us. He deeply, lavishly
loves us.

Next: Because He loves us, His rules
are for OUR good, OUR health, OUR safety. And when needed, He disciplines us so
we might share in His holiness.

Third: When we break His rule(s) – Don’t
waste time excusing sin, trying to rationalize it away. Instead, stop what you’re
doing wrong. Confess it, repent, and return to God.

Finally: After confession, don’t let
guilt linger in your mind. Don’t let it rob you of the reality of God’s gift of
forgiveness. Press on for God! Get back to doing the right thing for your own
sake, and for that of His kingdom.

As it is written: “Let us also lay aside every
encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.”

Friday, February 2, 2018

I
recently read a section in Deuteronomy that caught my attention. It’s from
chapter 31 and verse 16:

“The
Lord said to Moses, behold, you are about to lie down with your father‘s; and
this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of land, into
the midst of which they are going, and will forsake me and break my covenant
which I made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day,
and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be consumed,
and many evils and troubles will come upon them.”

I
put the Bible down for a few minutes and let my mind drift to a number of
liberal commentaries I’ve read over the years regarding passages like this one.
Instead of permitting the text to speak for itself – in this case, Moses is
exercising the supernatural gift of foretelling – instead of permitting the
text to remain in the realm of the supernatural, liberal commentators tell the
readers that a later editor inserted this section of the text a few centuries
later – when Israel’s rebellion was not a prediction of future events, but a
past historical fact.

What
that insertion does, of course, is to replace the supernatural with simple
history to make it SEEM like a prophecy.

I
can only guess why such commentaries promote fraud. A lie. A perversion of God’s
holy and inerrant word.

The
Books of Moses are not the only books of Scripture wherein liberal commentators
slice and dice away the supernatural. They do it in virtually every Old
Testament and even many of the New Testament books.

No
wonder so many people today take the Bible with the proverbial grain of salt. Why
bother to read it – except perhaps as ‘literature’, but certainly not the
inerrant word of Almighty God?

Indeed,
if the Bible is full of fraudulent texts and contexts, who’s to say the concept
of God Himself is not part of the fraud?

I
hope you will not be deceived by the reckless ideas of anti-supernaturalists. I
also hope you will take the words of the great rabbi and apostle of Jesus to
heart:

“I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive
argument. . . . Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,having been firmly rooted and
now being built up in Him and established in your faith . . . See to it
that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according
to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather
than according to Christ.For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,and in Him you have been made complete,
and He is the head over all rule and authority . . .(Colossians 2:4-10).

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Another of my prayer strategies – one that has quickly
become my favorite – is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. The prayer uses the
traditional Rosary beads, but the pattern of prayer is quite different. (For
readers unfamiliar with the Rosary, these links here
and here will help explain its history and use).

The Chaplet starts with the “Our Father,” moves to
the “Hail Mary,”*
and then to the Apostle’s Creed. Here the Chaplet departs substantially from
the Rosary. Follow this link to the Chaplet beads.

The prayer on the bead that separates each series
of ten beads begins with: “Eternal Father,
I offer You the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”
On each of the ten traditional “Hail Mary” beads, petitioners pray: “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have
mercy on us and on the whole world.” Finally, at the end of the five
‘decades” (series of ten beads), the following is prayed three times: “Holy God, Holy, Mighty One, Holy and
Immortal One, have mercy on us.”

The Chaplet can be prayed with our without music,
but I use the musical rendition because the combination of the words and melody
tugs at my emotions. For an example of the Chaplet set to music, Click
here (this is Donna Cori Gibson’s YouTube
version of the Chaplet. Start part one of the video at around 2:15. You can
find part two here. I do not watch the video during my prayer time because
it would distract me. Instead, I downloaded Gibson’s song from iTunes).

Although the music readily engages me, my
personality is such that continual repetition becomes monotonous. Consequently,
my mind drifts after the third or fourth “For the sake of His sorrowful passion
. . ..”I also have difficulty wrapping
my mind around “ . . .and on the whole
world.”The concept is too vast for me
to not only pray with passion, but with purpose. Therefore, I modify the prayer
this way:

Bead 1: For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have
mercy on Nancy (my wife), and on our whole family. Bead 2: For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have
mercy on Kerry (our daughter), and on our whole family. Bead 3: For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have
mercy on Zion (our eldest son), and on our whole family. Bead 4:For
the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on Nathan (our youngest son), and
on our whole family.Beads 5-10: I call the names of other family
members on my side of the family.

On the second series of beads I call the names of
those on Nancy’s side of the family. On series three through five, I call the
names of my students, friends, members of our parish, and so forth. Praying for
individuals in my personal ‘world’ helps me pray with passion and purpose
because I know and care about the people for whom I’m praying. I like being
able to put faces with names.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy includes elements of
several strategies I often use in my private morning time with my Lord: lists,
music, and scripted prayers. And best of all, it's all about Jesus. From
beginning to end, its focus is on my Lord, Saviour and Friend.

I enjoy this strategy so much that it has become my
most used method of prayer during my evening time with the Lord. I encourage
readers to try this method. You don’t need Rosary beads to pray the chaplet.
You can just as easily use your ten fingers.

* For
those unfamiliar with the Hail Mary, Catholics say: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among
women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. (Readers might
recognize two portions of Scripture in the Hail Mary – Luke 1:28 and 1:42).